Written Answers Thursday 24 March 2005

Scottish Executive

Adult Entertainment

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the composition of the working group being set up to review the scope and impact of adult entertainment has now been agreed.

Mr Tom McCabe: The following people have agreed to sit on the working group to review the scope and impact of adult entertainment:

  
 Linda Costelloe Baker has agreed to chair the group.
Linda Costelloe Baker, Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman. 
James Coleman, Depute Council Leader, Glasgow City Council.
Lorna Shiels, Councillor, City of Edinburgh Council.
Raymond Hutcheon, Convenor of the Licensing Committee, Aberdeen City Council.
Jill Shimi, Council Leader, Dundee City Council.
Patricia McIlquham, Clerk of Licensing Board and Depute Chief Executive (Support Services) – Dundee City Council.
Dr Sharon Cowan, School of Law, University of Edinburgh.
George Clelland, Superintendent for Licensing Branch, Strathclyde Police.
Eddie Tobin, Chair, Bar Entertainment and Dance Association.
Jan MacLeod, member of the Expert Committee on Violence Against Women and the Women’s Support Project.
Dr Catherine Kennedy, School of Psychology and Sociology, Napier University. 
Rab Fleming, Head of Local Governance and Licensing Division, Finance and Central Services Department, Scottish Executive.


  The terms of reference for the working group were set out in my reply to parliamentary question S2W-14687 on 24 February 2005. All answers to written questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

  The working group is expected to run from April 2005 to April 2006 and to submit a final report to ministers in April 2006

Alcohol Misuse

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-13942, S2W-13944, S2W-13946, S2W-13948, S2W-13950, S2W-13952, S2W-13954 by Rhona Brankin on 11 February 2005 and in light of the calculation of costs for hospitalisation days by total ICD-10 code in Cost to Society of Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: An Update to Alcohol Misuse in Scotland Trends and Costs , published on 20 January 2005, why it is not possible to calculate the cost of hospitalisation days against individual ICD-10 codes in each of the answers.

Rhona Brankin: NHS costs are available at speciality level only. It is therefore not possible to provide costs for individual alcohol related conditions and/or by ICD-10 codes.The costs quoted in Cost to Society of Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: An Update to Alcohol Misuse in Scotland Trends and Costs are an approximation based on all alcohol related hospitalisations (which include a wide range of diagnostic conditions). It is not possible to use this figure to provide information on the cost of hospitalisation days against individual ICD-10 codes.

Asbestos

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regarding asbestos disposal on sites intended for housing development.

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): The Executive has had no direct discussions with HSE on this issue.

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions there have been under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 for procuring a child to beg in each year since 1997.

Cathy Jamieson: No convictions under section 4 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 were recorded for the period 1997-2003.

Children’s Hearings

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to address the increasing number of needs-based referrals to children’s panels.

Euan Robson: The Scottish Executive is implementing a range of measures to ensure that children and young people get the help they need when they need it, including Sure Start Scotland, Additional Support for Learning (ASL), the Child Protection Review Programme and implementation in Scotland of Health for all Children (Hall4).The Children’s Hearings Review is also considering how to improve outcomes for vulnerable children.

Education

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in reducing S1 and S2 English and mathematics classes to a maximum of 20 pupils.

Peter Peacock: Good progress is being made in training the additional teachers required to meet our commitment to reduce S1/S2 maths and English classes to a maximum of 20. In academic session 2004-05, entries to the postgraduate teacher training course in mathematics rose by over 80% and in English by over 50%.

Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14631 by Peter Peacock on 2 March 2005, what plans it has to encourage Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) to publish school and local authority performance in implementing Better Behaviour – Better Learning against HMIE inspection standards such as "satisfactory", "good" or "very good".

Peter Peacock: The quality of climate and relationships in schools is regarded by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education as one crucial aspect of school discipline. "Climate and Relationships" are evaluated in every primary and secondary school inspection using the four point scale of "fair", "satisfactory", "good" or "very good". This scale is used along with others to describe the effectiveness of the whole school. This approach allows for the wide range of factors which contribute to school discipline, in addition to the recommendations of Better Behaviour – Better Learning, to be assessed and understood, including effective teaching and learning and strong leadership.

  The findings of school inspection reports are collated to inform thematic reports such as A Climate for Learning (2005), which reported on progress of implementation of Better Behaviour – Better Learning (BB-BL). Through thematic inspections and in all school and education authority inspections Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education will continue to monitor progress with implementation of the recommendations in the BB-BL report.

Environment

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what evaluation it has carried out on the effectiveness of the Do a Little Change a Lot campaign.

Ross Finnie: : The Executive commissions regular independent evaluations of the Do a Little Change a Lot Campaign. The third such evaluation was published in June 2004 and is available on the Executive’s website. I am also arranging that a copy of the report is placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. The campaign has been effective in both in raising public awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues and also in changing behaviour. We have noted that the most recent research showed that there was more that we could achieve in changing behaviour and we have taken appropriate action in our most recent campaign which has concentrated on energy efficiency issues.

Fisheries

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the publication of the inshore fisheries review will benefit rural development and the environment.

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): The Strategic Framework for Inshore Fisheries and the Inshore Fisheries Groups which will be established are primarily fisheries management tools. On the basis that the aim is help to develop sustainable inshore fisheries which help to maintain communities while striking a balance between environmental, developmental and social pressures, I envisage that the application of the framework will elicit significant benefits for rural development and the environment.

Football

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the number of fraudulent sales of tickets for football matches and convictions for ticket touting at football matches.

Cathy Jamieson: : Touting is an offence under Section 55 of the Civic Government Act 1982, but there is no specific offence of ticket touting at football matches.

G8 Summit

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it can take to assist the G8’s aims for Africa.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on Africa in respect of (a) HIV-AIDS, (b) malaria and (c) polio.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on Africa in respect of education.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on Africa in respect of trade.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on Africa in respect of the volume and effectiveness of aid.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on Africa in respect of debt and trade.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of promoting peace and security.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of strengthening institutions and governance.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of fostering trade.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of economic growth and sustainable development.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of implementing debt relief.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of expanding knowledge.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of increasing agricultural productivity.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the UK Government’s contribution to the G8 summit’s discussions on Africa in respect of the effectiveness and volume of aid.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the UK Government’s contribution to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of promoting peace and security.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the UK Government’s contribution to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of strengthening institutions and governance.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the UK Government’s contribution to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of fostering trade.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the UK Government’s contribution to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of economic growth and sustainable development.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the UK Government’s contribution to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of implementing debt relief.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what influence or direct input it will have on the European Council’s contribution to the G8 summit’s discussions on the Africa Action Plan in respect of improving water resource management.

Patricia Ferguson: The First Minister launched the International Development policy on 15 March 2005. Copies of the International Development policy have been placed with the Parliament Referencing Centre (Bib. number 35726). The policy sets out the role that Scotland can play within the international community, and in particular the contribution that it can make to developing countries.

  The powers of devolution mean there are specific ways in which we can contribute to the international development agenda. How we operate our devolved policies, such as development of global citizenship education and procurement, can impact on the developing world. Scottish organisations and individuals can respond to humanitarian issues and help in aid situations. We can also support effective, targeted Scottish effort in helping others to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

  I am delighted that this year’s G8 summit will be held in Scotland. We want to take the opportunity to ensure that the people of Scotland are aware of the G8 and its agenda and have a chance to debate the issues and make their voices heard. In particular the issue of addressing poverty in Africa can have a strong resonance for people in Scotland.

  Where the issues raised are reserved matters, ministers and officials will continue to reflect Scottish views to UK colleagues. We welcome the UK government’s commitment to tackling global poverty, and support their position that trade in goods and services should be free and that international trading rules should be made to work to the benefit of developing countries.

  We also welcome the Commission for Africa, in particular their support for partnership working, their proposal that wealthy nations should double their aid to Africa, raising it by £30 billion a year over 10 years, and their proposals to cancel debt for the poorest sub-Saharan countries.

  The Scottish Executive is committed to contributing to the Commission for Africa’s agenda by encouraging public discussion of the report and its issues, and by ensuring that the international development policy takes account of its findings. In particular, Scotland has much to offer in terms of skills and expertise in tackling HIV/AIDS, in boosting health and education capacity in Africa, and in the development of civil society and good governance. We will focus on Scotland’s key strengths and values, and we will aim to transfer Scottish knowledge, skills and expertise to where they are most needed in the world.

  We have recently announced the Scottish Schools Africa Challenge to give schools the opportunity as part of their international education to combine learning with real support for development in Africa. The next few weeks and months will afford a number of occasions to see in more detail what Scotland is contributing.

Health

Mr Frank McAveety (Glasgow Shettleston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to address Scotland’s record on men’s health.

Mr Andy Kerr: We have made available £4 million over two years to fund 10 well man clinics across the country targeting our most disadvantaged men who are at the greatest risk of poor health. The pilots are being independently evaluated and will contribute to our understanding of how to improve health and reduce health inequalities.

  In addition other initiatives aimed at reducing health inequalities will also impact on the health and well being of men across three levels, life circumstances, lifestyles and specific health issues including action on: smoking, alcohol, physical activity, diet and mental health and well being, while also targeting action towards coronary heart disease, cancer, sexual health and oral health.

Health

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what action the Minister for Health and Community Care will take in light of recent research by the US Department of Health stating that levels of air pollution in Edinburgh and Glasgow could be damaging to unborn babies, leading to an increased risk of cancer.

Mr Andy Kerr: : The study in question compared the rate of chromosome abnormalities in 60 newborn children in New York and found higher rates for those children whose mothers were exposed to higher levels of airborne pollution. While the authors do comment on the wider applicability of the these findings, they make no direct reference to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

  Advice from the UK Committee for Medical Effects of Air pollution indicates that the risks associated with the levels of carcinogenic substances found in the air in the UK are exceedingly small. Statutory air quality objectives for Local Authorities for seven different air pollutants in Scotland are set out in the Schedule to the Air Quality (Scotland) Regulations 2000 and subsequent amendments.

Housing

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many new-build starts are scheduled over the next three years and, of these, how many will be (a) affordable rented, (b) low cost home ownership and (c) mainstream home ownership houses.

Malcolm Chisholm: The table provides information on:

  (a) number of new build starts currently scheduled over the next three years for affordable rent, and

  (b) number of new build starts currently scheduled over the next three years for low cost home ownership.

  

 
(a) Affordable Rent
(b) Low Cost Home Ownership


2005-06
4,889
1,511


2006-07
5,371
1,729


2007-08
6,431
1,569



  We do not hold figures centrally for scheduled new starts for mainstream home ownership houses since these will be affected by a range of considerations including the housing market, the effective land supply, speed of planning decisions and negotiations over affordable housing requirements.

Housing

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to conduct research into the prevalence of low income or disadvantaged groups living in properties in poor condition and to provide a breakdown of this data by housing sector.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish House Condition Surveys (SHCS) collect information about the physical condition of Scotland’s homes and the views of the people who live in them. The surveys provide good quality information about the nature of our housing and our communities.

  The most recent survey results were published in the SHCS 2002 report, this is available from the SHCS publications website www.shcs.gov.uk

  The SHCS2002 report presents analysis of the household type (i.e. small family, single pensioner, etc), economic status of the householder, condition of the housing and the housing sector (tenure).

  Detailed additional follow-up reports using the SHCS 2002 data have been published. These include the Fuel Poverty report, the effect of Housing and Health in Scotland and most recently (February 2005) the Housing and Disrepair in Scotland report. All are available from the SHCS publication website.

Justice

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it accepts the financial analysis in the McInnes Report on the review of summary justice which backed up the call for lay justices to be abolished.

Cathy Jamieson: In May 2004 the Executive informed stakeholders and consultees that it did not intend to base decisions on the future structure of the court system on the results of research undertaken on behalf of the McInnes Committee into district court costs, because of limitations on the data made available to the researcher.

  Further work was undertaken last year on a joint basis with COSLA to provide accurate information about the costs of district courts.

Justice

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its consultation on plans to change the law on corporate culpable homicide.

Cathy Jamieson: : This is a complex issue. I have therefore decided to set up a small expert group to consider the issue further and report back to me. I will announce membership of that group shortly.

Justice

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the introduction of summary sheriffs to deal with a wider range of summary cases as recommended in the McInnes report.

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer to S2W-15212 on 24 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Justice

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether only having sheriffs on the bench will enhance the link between the lay bench and the local community.

Cathy Jamieson: We are not taking forward proposals that will lead to there only being Sheriffs on the bench. On 22 March we published Smarter Justice, Safer Communities: Summary Justice Reform – Next Steps . This sets out our intention to invest in the recruitment, training and appraisal of lay justices, rather than moving to an entirely professional judiciary. It can be accessed from the Summary Justice Reform website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/JD/CP/00019008/Homepage.aspx .

  Copies are also available in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 35821).

  The measures announced in this publication are intended to help to improve the overall quality of lay justice, and to make the lay bench more representative of the communities it serves. They will therefore enhance the link between the lay bench and the local communities it serves.

Justice

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the training available to lay justices has improved.

Cathy Jamieson: We acknowledge the steps which have been taken in recent years, led by the District Courts Association, to improve the quality and consistency of lay justices’ training by publishing materials which allow competence based training to be undertaken.

  We believe there is scope for further improvement. On 22 March this year I launched Smarter Justice, Safer Communities, which contains the Executive’s proposals in relation to summary justice reform. It makes it clear that we intend to invest in order to ensure that all lay justices across the country are provided with a consistent and high standard of training. This document can be accessed at from the Summary Justice Reform website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/JD/CP/00019008/Homepage.aspx.

  Copies are also available in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 35821).

Planning

Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive when the proposed legislation on the reform of the planning system will be introduced.

Malcolm Chisholm: We intend to introduce a Planning Bill during the current session of Parliament, which ends in March 2007.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have (a) had proceedings taken against them and (b) received (i) an adjudication or (ii) a criminal conviction for assault against (1) another prisoner and (2) a member of staff, in each prison since 1995.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Most of the information requested is not available.

  The number of adjudications for "assault" as reported in the SPS Annual Reports are as follows:

  

Financial Year
Total Adjudications for Assault


1995-96
764


1996-97
793


1997-98
773


1998-99
633


1999-2000
626


2000-01
667


2001-02
691


2002-03
760


2003-04
750

Renewable Energy

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making on its programme of support for small-scale renewables.

Allan Wilson: : We are making excellent progress. Our Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative has allocated grant funding to over 600 small-scale renewable energy projects since 2002, and applications to the scheme continue to increase.

Roads

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in considering the acceptability of a proposed new motorway junction to serve the redevelopment of the Royal Ordnance site at Bishopton.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has completed its assessment of the proposed development including a new junction to the M8 motorway. The outcome of these considerations is that the Executive is content that the developer proceeds to the next stage of the appraisal process for the two identified motorway junction options. This means that, in principle, the Executive will support a new motorway access in order to facilitate the redevelopment of the Bishopton site. My officials will, today, write to inform the developer of this decision.

Roads

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Transport will issue a decision following the outcome of the public local inquiry into the M74 completion scheme.

Nicol Stephen: A Letter of Decision to all relevant parties has issued and a copy of that decision (and the Public Local Inquiry Report) has now been lodged in the Parliament’s Reference Centre, (Bib. number 35854). After full consideration, I have decided to confirm the Orders, and authorise that the scheme should now go ahead.